CONSTRUCTION
Construction commenced in January 1993 and progressed steadily over the year. It is of an open frame work of ply wood and 75 mm x 50 mm cross beams. The track beds are 4 mm ply cut to shape. Main hills are made of 12 mm ply wood vertical formers cut to shape and covered with chicken wire then plaster bandage (modroc), this being light-weight but extremely rigid. I have found this to be ideal for exhibition purposes. The layout is self-supporting on four frames made up of 50 mm square legs and 35 mm x 50 mm cross braces.
SCENICS
The majority of the scenics are of my age-tested method of green gloss paint dusted with a mixture of flock power and coloured sawdust while still wet, the excess being vacuumed off when dry. This was then planted with over 200 trees, and over 1,000 pieces of lichen which form the bushes in the main area. The rock faces are made of cork bark cut and laid to shape - the deep cracks are filled with modroc and plaster. This is then painted with a mixture of browns, blues and grey acrylic paint, painting all colours simultaneously with a 12 mm brush, which gives the effect of merging colours with no hard lines between. Acrylic paint is useful for filling small cracks in the bark. For the buildings, the majority are Kibri kits, with some Marklin and even two or three N-Gauge, the most unusual being the clock tower at the north of the town having working mechanisms in both faces. For the track ballasting I laid the track on commercial ballast paper, then used paint to hide any discrepancies - Z-Gauge does not like being ballasted properly, and this achieves the effect adequately. This also allows for easy removal and track realignment if you get it wrong (which I did!). Road vehicles are a mix of Kibri kits, Noch and Fischer, and the populace come from Merten and Prieser.